Know about Donald Trump’s new battlefield, the birthright citizenship

In one more step against illegal immigration, US President Donald Trump has expressed the desire to end the right to citizenship for the children of non-citizens and unauthorised immigrants born on US soil.
US President Donald Trump plans to end the right to citizenship for the children of non-citizens and unauthorised immigrants born on US soil in what is arguably the most far-reaching move to staunch the growth of the immigrant population in the United States. The move could discourage a large number of illegal or irregular immigrants for whom this is an attractive provision.

Birthright citizenship in American law
The law of birthright citizenship came into existence in 1868 in response to the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in which Scott, a black slave, claimed that he and his wife should be granted their freedom because they had lived in the state of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal. The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was enacted to guarantee the right to citizenship for all persons born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.

How Trump is wrong about it
In an interview with “Axios on HBO”, Trump said, “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States … with all of those benefits,” Trump continued. “It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
However, Trump was wrong in claiming that the US is the only country that grants birthright citizenship. While most countries, including India, do not offer such citizenship, more than 30 countries do. Below is a list of countries that recognize birthright citizenship, according to a Business Insider report:

Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina

Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Ecuador
El Salvador
Fiji
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Jamaica
Lesotho
Mexico
Nicaragua
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Saint Kits and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Tanzania
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela

Then there are other countries that recognize birthright citizenship in special circumstances. In some cases, countries will confer citizenship to orphans or to children with stateless parents. These countries include Guinea-Bissau, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Chad. So Trump is wrong when he says only the US offers birthright citizenship.

Indian law on citizenship
Indian citizenship law is a little complex. A person is an Indian by birth if born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987. If a person is born after July 1987, he or she can claim citizenship if either parent was a citizen. For all born in India on or after December 3, 2004, they can claim citizenship by birth only if both parents are Indians, or if one parent is a citizen and the other is not an illegal immigrant at the time of birth. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014. Recently, several organisations in Assam protested against the Bill.